Gitonga Mukunji warns against scheme to divide Mount Kenya into East and West
By Ndiritu Wanjiru, March 2, 2026Manyatta Member of Parliament Gitonga Mukunji has cautioned political leaders on what he described as a calculated move to fragment the Mount Kenya region along the political lines of East and West in a bid to gain political mileage.
In an interview with a local TV station on Monday, March 2, 2026, Mukunji warned that such divisions would threaten to undermine the unity and bargaining power of the region before the 2027 general elections.
“People are trying to drive a narrative to divide the Mount Kenya region into East and West, but I want to tell them that there is no division between East and West; such narratives are meant to drive the agenda of certain people. I want to call on leaders to shun this divisive attempt,” Mukunji said.
The lawmaker, allied to the former deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, asserted that in the past, one voice had spoken in Mount Kenya about issues of national leadership and national development and advised that the new political language that was in the offing to divide the region would work against its leverage.
The legislator levelled blame on certain leaders, who he said were in line with the president, for advancing agendas that were aimed at creating divisions between communities by claiming that the policy was meant to establish political domination instead of actual development. He called upon leaders to concentrate on solving the economic problems of the residents rather than engaging in partisan politics.
Mukunji stressed that people of Mount Kenya have common interests of economic empowerment, development of infrastructure, and equitable representation in government. He cautioned that the efforts to establish artificial regional differences would only be individual political ambitions to the detriment of the larger population.
Unity of the mountain region
His comments are amidst increasing political realignments in the Mount Kenya region, where the leaders are positioning themselves before the next generation of elections. Mukunji said that the region is decisive, as it forms a critical voting bloc and has greatly influenced the result of past presidential elections, and as such, it is a major battleground between the government and the opposition.
The MP urged the leaders on either side of the political divide to focus on unity and to shun behaviours that had the potential to cause unnecessary tensions between residents. His exposition was that the strength of Mount Kenya lies in its unity and unity of voice, and he urged people to be on the alert for leaders who would use the differences existing among regions to gain political mileage.
The statement by Mukunji contributes to an increasing political debate in the region, as the players go after high stakes as rulers move to establish power in one of the most politically important strongholds of Kenya.